Deng pick Baidu posts 77% profit boost
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Chinese search engine Baidu – a top holding in the £2.1 billion Baring Hong Kong China fund – saw profits grow by 76.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The company’s latest financial results show profit amounted to Rmb 2 billion (£200m) between October and December, rising from the Rmb 1.2 billion reported one year before. Profits for the full year increased by 88% to hit Rmb 6.6 billion.
Agnes Deng’s Baring Hong Kong China fund has a 3.8% allocation to the search engine*. It is also owned by Will Sutcliffe’s £390.8m Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Leading Companies fund* and Bill McQuaker’s Henderson Emerging Markets Opportunities fund.
Baidu’s profit growth was driven by a surge in advertising revenue. Online marketing revenues across the whole of 2011 rose by 83.1% to Rmb 14.5 billion, benefiting from increases in both the number of active online marketing customers and revenue per customer.
Jennifer Li, chief financial officer at Baidu, says: “Driven by strong top line growth, Baidu enjoyed great margins in 2011, as we continued to aggressively invest in infrastructure and talent.”
* as of January 31
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